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Ski family hol 2012 - where to go - claviere, flaine or puy st vincent (snowbizz)

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
After just having gone skiing with snowbizz want to try a new family resort for 2012. what are people's thoughts on going back to Puy with snowbizz or trying claviere and staying at the grand hotel claviere with crystal or club hotel totem in flaine with crystal. Your opinions would help alot. Would be using creche at all locations.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
We also started with Snowbizz and had a great time with them too. The set up could not have been better for our children who were 3 and 5 at the time. However puy st vincent was fine for one visit but not a resort I would keep going back to and we prefer accommodation with a pool/jacuzzi set up.

Our next trip was to la Rosiere and we really enjoyed it. We stayed in les cimes blanches appartments in the les eucharts area and they are lovely with fantastic pool/spa set up. We used the ESF creche in les eucharts. We booked the 2 1/2 hour ski lesson plus lunch club option for our children and it was just right. It gave us time to ski in la thuile on several days. The runs above les eucharts are nice wide blues perfect for the children to practise on in the afternoons. Pretty much a ski to and from the door set up. Overall the set up was very good and we had a great holiday. There were enough other English children around for our children to make a few friends and the ski instructors and creche staff spoke english. The only drawback was that la rosiere can be very cold/windy at New year which is when we went. Arm yourselves with balaclavas if you go there.

Montgenevre is another very good family option with good ski schools and I think there is an ESF run creche (we didn't use it). In your position I would choose montgenevre over claviere as montgenevre has a very good beginners area, more modern lifts and very good ski schools (I don't know what the claviere ski school is like).

Have not been to flaine so not sure what the set up is like there. It has not yet reached our shortlist. I think I imagine it as a busy resort, with lots of boarders and not the best snow cover but I could be completely wrong!
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Joey, are you looking for good family skiing or just good childcare?
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I don't have children but I hope I can still help out a little.

Flaine is very convenient, pistes are easily accessible from accommodation and the snow reliability is good (near Mont Blanc so a bit of a snowy micro climate). However, I did find the main Flaine bowl fairly busy, which I imagine would not be great for little ones. Also, there are not many green runs (assuming your children are still not confident skiers) and the few greens there are tend to be linking pistes, with lots of fast skiers on them. I think the beginner areas were fenced off, which is a plus. There are a few easy blues, but I did tend to find that the blue pistes got quite busy. However, other villages within the Grand Massif might suit your family needs better, such as Samoens or Morillion. The satellite villages tend to have much quieter pistes and seem to get good reviews from families. If your little ones are looked after in the mornings, you would be able to explore most of the grand massif area, while allowing your children to ski happily away for the busiest areas. I stayed in Les Carroz, which was great although most accommodation is a bus ride away from the lifts and I have no idea what facilities for children are available.

La Rosiere also gets good feedback from families, although the wind might put me off.

I agree that Montgenevre would probably be a better base than Claviere for families. The village is slightly larger so has more to offer off slope, and there are lots of easy greens and blues accessible. Claviere pistes are mostly red gradient, which I guess is not quite what you would want? If you decide to go here, be careful about which lift passes you buy, as it can be quite confusing working out which pass entitles you to how many days in which linked resorts (Via Lattea).
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nessy wrote:
Joey, are you looking for good family skiing or just good childcare?


+1

I can't comment on the hotel or childcare you mention in Flaine or what the resort is like at very busy times ie Feb. Flaine is however a fantastic family ski area as long as you don't want pretty alpine village. The scenery is stunning and there are runs to suit everyone. We've been several times in early/mid April and will go back. ESI ski school is well thought of.

If there is a problem with snow, Flaine is a good bet as the cover there is as reliable as it gets.

Depends what your priorities are Very Happy
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Joey, when are you going? if half term, I would definitely avoid Flaine, echoing what carettam said.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I am looking to go 5th Feb 2012. Cannot afford Half term prices. Main thing is to have everything very close by to avoid too much walking. childcare important to us too. The more I read the more I think Flaine is our answer. Comments please...
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After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Joey, stayed at Grand Hotel Claviere a few years back. TBH I didn't think much of Claviere and the hotel was rough round the edges. The staff were excellent and food tasty but I think there will be a lot better options out there.
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Really like Claviere - small, friendly and quiet. Not the place if you're after a lot of nightlife. Not used the ski school but most of pistes are red so depends what level of skier you are.
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been to flaine 3 times with the kids. MMV, apartment and totem. Totem did the job, ski school was at the door, used kids club in the afternoon that year, games room for them in the evening.

Thinking about it again this year as they are running 2/1 lift pass offer at the mo and its full board but variety is the spice of life and my kids carry their own gear to ski school now, thank god!
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I can highly recommend Le Totem in Flaine, it's an excellent hotel. Apart from great staff and lovely food, their ski locker system is the best I've come across (locks with the room key and the lockers all have boot heaters) and the ski room is big!

Resort is almost as ugly as it gets but everything is very convenient.

There is no nightlife, but as you have a young family I'm sure that won't bother you in the slightest!

I really enjoyed the skiing in Flaine, it seems to have this weird micro-climate where it has tons more snow than anywhere else (with the exception of the season just gone I suspect).
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
sorry to revive this thread - just thought i would add some comments

have been to both Flaine and claviere, one after the other , and going back to claviere this year for new year week

Flaine we stayed at the totem, its a bit tired , but not too bad, very well situated, and had good food ( and lots of it - back for lunch is
easy too ) , great skiing, with lots of it, and a good ski school for both kids & adults - they even spend time in normal ski school exploring the off piste, more that enough skiing for a week unless you are bvery quick, and oly do a piste once.

Claviere, smaller with not a lot of pubs/bars, but what is there are very friendly., we stayed at the grand claviere.
has a good range of sking, and obviously you can pop over to france by using one piste.

ski school was a bit of a mess, we actually ended up with no ski school, as they ensured that the kids got looked after, and there were not enough instructors for an advanced group ( this was a blessing as it meant that we could do what we wanted, and we had a good go at hitting all the slopes.

ski school for the kids was good, they were prepared to take even very young beginners on some interesting and challenging slopes and not just down the same run all week.

both hotels had, the usual kids clubs, childcare ( wraparound) and the evening pyjama club as well, and in both hotels you could not fault the attentiveness of the staff. these days i dont think that esprit are that much better to justify the much higher prices they have come to charge.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Joey, stayed at Grand Hotel Claviere a few years back. Probably the only ski resort we wouldn't rush back to
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